This city is suffering from a bad case of hockey dementia. What else can you say when a sell-out crowd of 21,273 turns out to watch a fundamentally meaningless exhibition scrimmage between the Canadiens and the hated Maple Leafs?

Especially after the local heroes lost their fourth straight preseason game, 4-3 to the Leafs.

Neither of the teams on the ice last night bore much resemblance to the lineups that will start the season for the two erstwhile Original Six powerhouses. The hockey was lacklustre at best and yet there they were, crammed to the rafters in the game's biggest barn to see what Staffan Kronwall, Andy Wozniew-ski, Andre Benoit and Ryan O'Byrne had to offer.

Perhaps we should count our blessings: Last night's contest took place without the usual complement of post-lobotomy Leaf fans in the building and the Canadiens got a little offence going, with the help of a raft of Toronto penalties and a three-point night from defenceman Mark Streit.

But two of the goals came from the top line, with Saku Koivu and Michael Ryder scoring.

The second line looked better, with Corey Locke taking Mike Ribeiro's place between Alex Kovalev and Sergei Samsonov (and with Guillaume Latendresse taking Locke's place on the power play), but still had nothing to show for their night's work - except a minus-2 across the board.

As Guy Carbonneau shifted his lines in the third period, Samsonov saw less and less time on the ice: he finished with 11:29 to Locke's 13:06 and Kovalev's 19:27, the most for any Montreal forward.

Despite the meaninglessness of the games, there has to be a little concern - especially with the chemistry on the second line - after the Canadiens have been outscored 17-7 through these four losses, all at the hands of their most bitter rivals, the Leafs and the Boston Bruins.

Canadiens GM Bob Gainey raised a few eyebrows during the offseason when he decided to commit $1.9 million of that precious salary-cap space to sign Ribeiro to a one-year deal even though he was coming off a sub-par season. No one asked many questions about the signing of Samsonov as a free agent after the Canadiens were unable to land Brendan Shanahan, but there will be questions if Samsonov doesn't begin to click with his linemates.

The fact that questions about his work ethic have persisted this far into Ribeiro's career is not encouraging, nor was his performance through his first two games between Samsonov and Kovalev. The consensus is that Ribeiro is too slow for that line and that in any case, you can't have three guys on the ice who are all used to playing with the puck.

If Ribeiro is not to be the second-line centre, then who is?

Off his performance at the end of last season and through the playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, the best candidate would be Tomas Plekanec, but at this point in his career, Plekanec isn't going to strike much fear in opposing goaltenders.

Overall, however, Carbonneau was happier with last night's performance.

"The game in Toronto, I was disappointed," the coach said. "I didn't hide it.

"Tonight, we had a better effort. We had lapses - we still have to play a good 60 minutes - but it was more what I've been looking for."

As for Kovalev and Samsonov, Carbonneau said: "I'm still looking for a better chemistry between the two. It's not easy for Sergei. A guy like Mike Johnson, he's used to playing different roles, it's easier for him to work in with a new team. A guy like Sergei, it's a little bit hard.

"Maybe he's thinking too much - he just has to work and his talent will take over. Tonight, I changed the lines again from the beginning of the second period, just to see what will click."

Still, Carbonneau said he's not concerned.

"I'm not concerned. I'm worried like you always worry. From the first day of training camp, you wish everyone was at 100 per cent, but it doesn't happen. When you get to your 10th, 12th, 15th year, you try to pace yourself because you know the season starts in October, not September.

"Some players are born to do this every day, they don't care whether it's September or June, they give it 150 per cent."

Samsonov, clearly, is not like that. Nor, as we know, is Ribeiro.

When the season starts Oct. 6, we'll see who is going to show up and who isn't.

Until then, it's just something else to talk about around the water cooler.